QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Quality is one of the features that mark ECM products. ECM owns a Quality Management System certified by an external independent certification body according to ISO 9001-2015. The ECM Quality Management System is the support that contributes to improving the level of our business.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In alignment with our Value in Action of Sustainability, we own an Environmental Management System certified by an external independent certification body according to ISO 14001-2015. This system helps us comply with environmental regulations and reduce our environmental impact.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Health and Safety are two crucial elements of our work. For this reason, ECM decided to develop its Occupational Health And Safety Management System according to ISO 45001:2018 that has been certified by an external independent certification body.

ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

ECM owns an Asset Management System certified by an external independent certification body according to ISO 55001:2015 that allows ECM to proceed with maintenance activities on its Technological Board System.

POLICY FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Our policy for social accountability based on the SA8000 standard, download here.

POLICY FOR GENDER EQUALITY

Our policy for gender equality can be downloaded here.

*The below certifications were obtained under ECM S.p.A. and have been novated to the new legal entity, Progress Rail Signaling S.p.A.

The main research & development activities of Progress Rail were carried out in the field of the evolution of trackside and on-board systems necessary to make the trains pass safely and were also the subject of successful project proposals presented at the regional, national and European level and financed with European funds.

The projects financed were:

SMARIERS - "Smart Railway Infrastructures: Efficiency, Reliability and Safety" (Bando 1 R&S 2020 - Tuscany Region) – an ongoing project with the final objective of studying and developing three elements of the railway park and production support, complementary of each other and including LED signs and the related environments for production testing and the power supply equipment of the infrastructure and, therefore, also of the signals.

STINGRAY – “SmarT station INtelliGent RAilwaY” (Bando Unico R&S 2017 - Tuscany Region) – this project aimed at the study, design, development and testing of solutions that allow for substantial energy savings in the operation of railway stations, with prompt command and control by the bodies responsible for consumption, in line with the expected halving of CO2 emissions in the railway sector by 2030.

SUBSET – “On-Board Subsystem ERTMS/ETCS level2: train-ground radio telephony” – Thanks to this project, the On-board ECM SubSystem has become capable of managing the interoperable System at European level ERTMS/ETCS Level 2.

FOUNDED IN 1958 BY GIULIO CAPPELLINI

Elettromeccanica CM, as it was originally called, was founded in 1958 by Giulio Cappellini together with his sons Mario and Roberto and began its growth and development with the production of electric power supply stabilizers for appliances, televisions, and electrical transformers of various types, for both industrial and domestic applications. As early as 1961, ECM began to offer supplies for the Italian Navy. The materials produced ranged from transformers to direct current power supplies to small ferroresonance inverters. In that period the production of small battery chargers for auto electricians and emergency systems also began.

FIRST COLLABORATIONS WITH FERROVIE DELLO STATO

In 1966, ECM began collaborating with the State Railways (now RFI). In the long run, these will prove to be the main engine of the company's industrial development.

The first supplies included low voltage transformers for powering relay equipment and DC power supplies. In the years immediately following, ECM dedicated all its economic, planning and human resources to the railway sector. These are the years that saw exponential growth in the number of orders in the sector of power supplies for railway signaling equipment.

Meanwhile, new needs appeared on the railway transport market: the consolidation of technologies related to the automatic and safe spacing of on-line trains. This need led the company to develop transmission systems along the ~1000V power line. Towards the end of the decade, ECM designed and approved the new static control units for powering level crossings. During the same period, a systematic didactic activity was also started aimed at the professional training of railway operating personnel for the use and maintenance of ECM products.

THE 80S AND 90S

In the 1980s, ECM was still the driving force of technology and research, which underwent a decisive acceleration during this decade. The company began to offer a whole series of new products dedicated to the world of railway signaling. Thus was born the Modular Switchboards for the ACEI interlocking power supply, three-phase static control units without interruption up to 300 kVA, and emergency generators with low subtransitory reactance.

In the second half of the 90s, the new optoelectronic light signals with LED technology were produced for level crossings and work slowdowns. It is at this stage that a new technological sector began: diagnostics and remote control for railway signaling systems. The participation in the design and development of the power supply system for on-board auxiliaries for the Eurotunnel project was also significant during this time.

THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The dawn of the new millennium brought ECM expansion to wider levels – the most important and fundamental being the transition from the supply of products to the capacity to design, supply, install and maintain in "turnkey" mode complete safety systems such as the brand new ATP/ATC systems of State Railways.

It was in the early years of the new millennium that ECM contributed to the total coverage of the RFI network with the SCMT and SSC train protection and control systems, equipping significant sections of the network with both systems and using its own products for both the line and on board the trains and their signaling application engineering skills. The progress of research in various sectors allowed for the development of several more products such as optoelectronic signals of varying types. In particular, the research focused on the transmigration of traditional lamp signals towards the most modern and reliable LED technology, with minimal impact on existing control systems.

HMR9 AND THE NEW FRONTIER OF RESEARCH

The new frontier, and the true core item of today's ECM research, is the computerized interlocking railway signaling system called HMR9 – conceived and developed completely within the company, capable of managing traffic from a single central location.

Furthermore, HMR9 allows the inclusion and management of all the other systems that today individually assist railway traffic such as the aforementioned SCMT and SSC, but also ERTMS, Axis Counter Block, etc.

To date, ECM has participated in ambitious technological innovation projects aimed at achieving real European interoperability (as sanctioned by the directives and supported by the Financing of Railway Corridors), both with regards to safety and signaling, with its own products already developed. These are capable of being included in systems that comply with the ETCS standard, both in the field of vehicle interoperability, with the development of on-board modular systems also in collaboration with foreign manufacturers for the parts relating to the national systems of other countries.

PROGRESS RAIL ACQUIRES ECM